Artistry, from mother to daughter

On a Friday, Bailey Fry-Schnormeier received word her artwork would be featured in the Polk County Heritage Gallery, the first time her work would be shown in a juried gallery. For an individual committed to artistry and leading Creston’s next generation of artists, this was a monumental moment.

The next Monday, more good news arrived. Bailey’s daughter Leona was accepted into a gallery of her own. Mainframe Studios’s monthly exhibit accepted the eighth grader’s artwork for their exhibit “Critters & Creatures.”

At the same time, a mother and daughter made progress in their artistic pursuits as their work was accepted in separate juried galleries for the first time. These galleries will be open for the month of May in Des Moines.

Juried art shows are different from other exhibits. In order to participate, artists submit their work with an artist’s statement to provide any necessary context for a piece.

The juror or jury has no information on the background of the artist, including names or locations of the artist. Judging is done entirely by the skillset shown in the pieces submitted.

Bailey

Bailey and Leona’s family has had a history of art, stemming back to Bailey’s grandmother Judy Bierkamp, the original founder of Creston Arts.

Bailey graduated high school in Lenox and then from Coe College, moving back to the area when she received a position as an art instructor at Creston High School. From there, Bailey focused more on leading her students than her own personal work.

“It’s hard to build a body of work to prepare for a potential exhibit,” Bailey said. “With all the things going on in my life, my family and teaching and being a full-time mother, it’s hard.”

That doesn’t mean Bailey wasn’t surrounded by art. In the spare time she had, she continued working on her own art and pushed the energy she had to her students.

“That’s why I started teaching,” Bailey said. “I think having someone believing in you, I can pay it forward. I help push [my students] forward. I can help recognize where my students have a passion for it and help them specialize in certain mediums. It creates these proud moments where I can see my students growing into full-time artists and see them flourish.”

Bailey holds two galleries a year at the Creston Arts Gallery of work her students made during their time at Creston High School.

One of her dreams is to one day own a wood-fired kiln, the kind of dream that has pushed her to different locations. Bailey and her husband Blake found themselves at a workshop in Malvern, where they worked in 14-hour shifts keeping an anagama kiln burning.

It was an intense week for the two, but out of it came something special. A set of three vases, thrown and shaped by Bailey, came out of that kiln. The vases are asymmetrical, with curved edges and dipping lips. Engraved lines snake down the sides of the vases, showing the curves in the structure.

Bailey said this set was the first time she thought her work was ready for a gallery.

“I thought it was at the fine art gallery level,” Bailey said. “I was confident and ready for it to be shown alongside other Iowa artists.”

After so many years, this was the first time Bailey’s work would be shown. She was able to celebrate alongside her daughter.

Leona

The tradition of familial support for artwork has extended to Leona, who is supplied by her family. Leona noted she wants to work more with textiles and fabric compared to her mother, and her work shows it.

The piece submitted to Mainframe’s exhibit depicts the family cat, Frida. A brown tabby, Leona’s piece is a crocheted tapestry with Frida’s likeness preserved across 11 different skeins of yarn.

Leona said she used a program to convert a picture of Frida into a grid, with one of those 11 colors as each square of the grid. From there, over the course of seven months, she worked on the massive grid, which ended up reaching over 3-feet tall.

As Leona stitched each square in the grid, one-by-one, the work was pain-staking, at times literally.

“She injured her wrist,” Bailey said.

“I had to take a few breaks every once in a while,” Leona added.

Leona had her opening reception before her mother last Friday, where she stood beside her work and explained to fascinated visitors how she was able to make it. One visitor had reached out to touch the tapestry, confused on what it was even made of.

Compared to her mother, the time it took to complete the tapestry may have been longer, but the two agreed the work they did on their respective pieces were equally intense.

Bailey noted the differences between her and her daughter, agreeing it was possibly a generational difference. Leona had taught herself how to crochet, with Bailey saying she had no idea how to do what her daughter had done.

“We’re each working in our own mediums,” Bailey said.

Even if Leona, only 14, doesn’t choose a career in artistry, she says it likely won’t go away.

“I’ll always be an artist,” Leona said. “It’s a part of me now.”

Leona had some advice for fellow artists.

“The best advice I could give is to not be afraid of failures and keep an open mind toward your work,” Leona said.

Both Bailey and Leona will feature their work alongside work from muralist and artist MayLing Chuong-Wignall in a Creston Arts gallery in September.